Portugal to oppose Equatorial Guinea's membership in the CPLP

From here in French:

The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas said yesterday in Lisbon that Portugal would oppose full membership for Equatorial Guinea in the CPLP during the next summit in Maputo (Mozambique), believing that the country has made "insufficient progress" on the issue of human rights.

"At the summit in Luanda there was put in place a set of measures to permit Equatorial Guinea to go from the status of observer to that of full membership...but the progress made is more formal than real, and in some areas it has not been enough for a decision to be made in Maputo", he said.

The minister was referring in particular to the question of violations of human rights and maintaining the death penalty in the country. Despite constant progress, notably with adopting Portuguese as an official language, Portas said that the conditions required hase not been met for a decision at the summit to take place on the 20th of July...he also mentioned that Portugal is far from alone in its position.

The extraordinary council of ministers of the CPLP met this morning at the headquarters of the organization with Equatorial Guinea in the CPLP as one of the main items on the agenda...the majority of the members of the CPLP declared that they did not oppose a future entry in the Lusophone bloc, with Portugal the country showing the greatest resistance.

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